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Adam Ottke
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Articles written by Adam Ottke

Seventeen New Tricks of the Nikon D850 and How They’ll Help Your Photography
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If you try to pinpoint a single reason that the D850 is creating as much buzz as it is, it would be nearly impossible. This isn’t an amazing camera that has a singular standout feature. It’s the precisely and perfectly juxtaposed array of many new features, big and small, that culminate in the D850's success as a standout camera. Here’s a quick dive into some of the top, more obscure tricks the sold-out D850 brings to Nikon’s top line, how much they’ll really help your photography, and what limitations these features have.

Nikon D850 ISO Performance Seems Much Improved Over D810
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The Nikon D850 features a completely new sensor developed in-house by Nikon. It's also the first backside-illuminated sensor in a Nikon full-frame DSLR. That allows it to perform up to one stop better than the D810, despite the higher pixel count, according to Nikon. But the latest tests look even better. It's now possible that the wealth of positive reviews of the D850 are about to get another, albeit small, addition.

What Is NASA Doing With the 53 Nikon D5 Cameras It Just Ordered?
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NASA has a long history of sending cameras to space. Most notably, Hasselblad medium-format and Nikon SLRs and DSLRs have been NASA's go-tos for decades. But in a recent order that must be amongst the largest in its history for a single order of camera bodies, NASA just bought 53 Nikon D5 cameras worth over $340,000. What off Earth could NASA be doing with all those D5s?

[DEAL] B+W Kaesemann Circular Polarizer MRC Filters Just $30, 66% Off
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Through its Deal Zone, B&H currently has the B+W Kaesemann Circular Polarizer MRC Filters for about more than half off for the rest of the day (until midnight ET). The 77mm size is just $49.95 (58% off of $119.95 normally) while the 58mm size is also available for $29.95 (67% off of $89.95 normally). The B+W brand is a well-known, high-end filter brand, and its multi-coated Kaesemann filters are its own gold standard.

Pre-Order the Nikon D850 Now for September Delivery
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The Nikon D850 was announced tonight. With an extremely high-resolution 45-megapixel sensor, 7-plus fps shooting, and a ton of professional improvements to its predecessor, this really is the camera to do it all — and the price is on the low end of previous estimates at $3,296.95. Pre-orders are now up and are promised to begin shipping in September with free expedited shipping.

Nikon Announces the D850: Yes, It's an Amazing Camera
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We'll have to wait to get our hands on one to see if this camera really can be the Swiss army knife of DSLRs that it seems to be, but we now have details from Nikon's official D850 announcement, including the U.S. price.

Why the Nikon D850 Could Make the Canon 5D Mark IV Obsolete
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Like the Nikon D750, the Canon 5D Mark IV is the parent brand’s attempt at making what’s arguably the most versatile professional full-frame camera system that fits the needs of most professional photographers, except that it beats the D750 on nearly every metric that matters, as it should for a newer camera. Still, Nikon’s D850 easily strips the versatility title from Canon for plenty of reasons, not the least of which is resolution. The 5DS line, however, isn’t the only thing at which Nikon is taking aim with the new D850.

Wide-Gamut Color Support in Smaller Files Coming to the Web and Mobile
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Wide-gamut images have been supported by the latest smartphone and high-end computer displays for some time, but the software and the Internet has some way to go before the average consumer can enjoy accurately rendered, wide-gamut images across their entire digital experience. Between what Apple called "Wide Color" in the iPhone 7 display and Android Oreo's support for "Deep Color" in similar displays, we're almost here. But none of that matters for the average consumer if websites continue to compress that data, stripping wide color information in the process. The real change has to come from websites like 500px, which just announced support for fully color-managed images.

CrashPlan Backup Service Abandons Home Users as It Jumps for Enterprise
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CrashPlan is a popular cloud-based backup solution that many (myself included) use to backup their computers and external drives. But the company's announcement this morning to focus on business-to-business services leaves consumer customers hanging, despite their promise not to do so. Those of us with particularly large backups on CrashPlan's consumer service have a problem that raises a greater question about cloud-based backups in general.

Samsung Releases T5 Portable SSD
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I've reviewed the earlier version of Samsung's T-series SSD drive, but today, they've announced a new version with better performance across the board. Up from 450 MB/s, the Portable SSD T5 now offers up to 540 MB/s read and 515 MB/s write speeds. It also comes in new colors. The 250 GB and 500 GB sizes will come in Alluring Blue while Deep Black will be reserved for the 1 TB and 2 TB capacities.

Tiger Chews on 360-Degree Camera While It Records
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A Sumatran tiger at a United Kingdom zoo strolled up to a Nikon KeyMission 360 camera, swatted it down from its perch on the fence, and chewed it up a bit. Needless to say, the KeyMission survived and safely protected the memory card with the footage in the process.

Nikon D850 Presentation Slides Leaked, Confirms Stats Alongside New Specs
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In a two-part release, NikonRumors posted the Nikon D850's presentation slides. Although written in Japanese Chinese, we can infer a number of specifications about the D850 (and anyone who speaks Chinese is welcome to help us translate the rest!). Some highlights include greater viewfinder magnification, 9 fps at full resolution, and up to 14 fps, perhaps, in bursts of up to 51 of some kind of uncompressed raw-format images with an MB-D18 battery grip.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Photojournalism Lecturer Ousted After Harassment Allegation
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The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) reported Bill Frakes, a former Sports Illustrated photographer and 1983 Photographer of the Year in the Pictures of the Year competition, will not return to his position as a lecturer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after a Title IX harassment complaint was filed against him. The complaint was accompanied by notes from "at least ten other students" including photojournalim majors and those from other universities who also worked with Frakes.

Fstoppers Reviews the New Peak Design Leash and Cuff
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Peak Design, creators of the popular Everyday Messenger, Everyday Backpack, and Slide strap, announced updated versions of its Leash and Cuff. A few weeks ago, the San Fransisco-based photography accessory company sent me the new products to test. Coming from a brand that set a precedent for commanding high expectations, I thought I knew what I was getting into. But even these little straps held a few pleasant surprises for me.

City of Los Angeles Bans Photography at Public Park, Violates Constitution
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Citing a contractual agreement with a band multiple bands at a free concert series, Los Angeles recently banned photography at any of the upcoming concerts scheduled to be held at a public park. The order violates the Constitution, which protects any United States citizen's freedom of expression in the First Amendment.

Here's Why Testing Cinema Lenses Didn't Matter Before, But Does Now
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There are a handful of companies that are well-known for testing lenses. And the photographic community has a love-hate relationship with many of those that claim to have scientific tests, etc. Does it even matter? Can you tell the difference? Isn't it all just good enough? Regardless of your personal opinion, LensRentals has a respectable reputation for testing photographic lenses for optical features that we actually care about. They haven't tested many cinema lenses, but that's about to change — and for good reason.

Nikon D850 to Be Baby Nikon D5? More Specs Rumored
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There are no shortage of Nikon D850 rumors these days. Following up previous news that Nikon shooters should be happy about, the additional features, pricing, and release date information once again found by NikonRumors set the stage for what continues to be an increasingly optimistic outlook for the D850.

If These Specs Are Real, the Nikon D850 Will Be the Last Camera You'll Ever Need [Rumor]
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Nikon let us down softly with a barely a glimmer of information Tuesday as it announced development of the D850, but gave little additional information. Between yesterday and today, NikonRumors received leaked photos of the D850 and shared some specifications the camera should feature. Many of these are in line with what we expected from previous rumors, but there are some additional surprises that are sure to impress even the most cynical-minded.

Comparison Breakdown: The Lightest, Most Affordable, Professional Full-Frame System
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In a world where less than a handful of brands are considered well-established in the professional full-frame camera market and where more than a handful of other brands have done a very healthy share of innovating to wedge their way into the market, where do we stand? If you're going to buy a new system to start fresh or are just starting out and getting serious, this is for you. Here's a thorough comparison of the major bodies and lens kits you'll likely be considering. As long as you're considering full frame, regardless of budget, here's a comparison for it.